


Ethan

by roo2010



Series: When They Were Young [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF, hiddlesworth - Fandom
Genre: Fluff, Hiddlesworth -AU, M/M, fostering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 15:49:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5381000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roo2010/pseuds/roo2010
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tom and Chris meet their foster son</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ethan

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so I'm English and have no idea how fostering and adoption works in America, however I have it on very good authority that just sometimes things can move this fast!

Tom and Chris took a last look around their house checking that it was fully safe for a 5 year old boy. They locked eyes and smiled at each other realising just what they’d accomplished personally in the last few weeks. They had been approved as foster parents and potential adoptive parents in a very short space of time and their foster child was due imminently.

            It had all started at Chris’ mum’s house, whilst they were visiting one day Chris’ aunt turned up for a coffee, bringing with her her latest foster child. She had told them about another little boy whose situation was so bad that if a home was not found for him very soon he would have to be moved out of state so that he could have a better life. He had been taken from his mother already and placed with foster parents but he wasn’t happy there at all, refusing to eat and feeling generally miserable. Tom and Chris exchanged glances; they knew each other so well that they instantly knew what each other was thinking. Chris spoke first, beating Tom by milliseconds “what would we have to do to help him?”

Chris’ mum looked surprised but his aunt looked hopeful.

“I have good friends in Adoption Services; I can get the ball rolling for you if you want?”

Tom beat Chris this time “yes please!”

Chris nodded his agreement. He knew they wanted nothing more than to help this poor boy who, through no fault of his own, had found himself in this horrible situation. In the back of his mind there was the slight worry that people would think that Tom and he were too young, Chris was just 20 years old and Tom was nearly 19, they had been together for nearly two years though and had been living together for nearly 18 months so he hoped that showed a level of commitment. Tom’s parents had made huge strides in reconnecting with the son they had disowned when he had told them about Chris and now they had a reasonably good relationship that was improving month on month. Chris was grateful that his parents had been fully supportive from the start. He couldn’t begin to imagine the pain Tom must have felt the day his parents threw him out and he was determined that they would help in any way they could the little boy they had just heard about so that at least one person wouldn’t feel the sort of pain Tom had experienced and he was certain Tom felt the same. His aunt spoke again and he was pulled from his musings.

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?” he asked sheepishly

His aunt smiled at him “I said that I would contact one of my friends tomorrow and tell them about your offer. I suspect they will be in contact fairly quickly. You will have to be vetted of course and your place assessed for risks to the little boy but I think the pair of you will sail through that. You have a loving stable relationship and that shines through and should work in your favour. I expect you will be approved. ”

Tom’s smile lit up the room, big wide and genuine “Really? That would be great. Thank you so much”

Chris’ aunt shrugged “I can see you boys have so much love to give. It would be a real shame if you couldn’t share that love”

            Two days later the Adoption Services had contacted them and made an appointment to meet to start the process. They immediately warmed to their case worker and knew that she would do her best to help them and the little boy whose name they had learnt was Ethan. They had filled in a myriad of forms and check sheets detailing every aspect of their lives, even giving details of their employers so that references could be obtained and checked as to their characters. To their surprise at the end of two weeks they had been approved and had been told that they would be fostering Ethan to start with, but ultimately they were looking at full adoption. They really didn’t think it would all happen quite this quick and they both felt a pang in their heart as they could only imagine how bad it must be for Ethan if things were moving this quickly.

            The next week they had had a meeting with Ethan’s birth father; he was unable to be a part of Ethan’s life and hated that fact. He must have liked what he saw in Chris and Tom though because they later found out that he had no objection to them becoming Ethan’s adoptive parents. He managed to tell them something of Ethan’s personality even though he didn’t see him as often as he wanted to. It seemed that Ethan was a bright five year old with a huge sense of fun and his birth father was sure that he would be happy with Chris and Tom and would enrich their lives in ways that they could only dream of at the moment.

All of this had, of course, been relayed to Lily in England and she had been unfailing in her encouragement and support. She had rapidly turned into one of their best friends and they couldn’t imagine not having her in their lives even if it had to be long distance. She was often the voice of reason for them and they had learned to listen to her pretty quickly.

            As soon as they had a date for Ethan’s arrival both Chris and Tom approached their respective employers and asked for their work hours to be changed slightly to accommodate the fact that they would have a son living with them who would need to go to school. Luckily they both worked in jobs where they could be flexible with their hours worked and their bosses were happy to let them move their hours slightly. With their work sorted Chris and Tom started to kid-proof their house to get it ready for Ethan’s arrival and of course to buy all the extra furniture they would need. They had a great time picking out bedroom furniture, just a bed, wardrobe and a chest of drawers for now but they were sure more would be added as needed. There was also lots of toy storage as they knew that they would end up with more toys than they could cope with!

            Finally the big day was here, it was the Thursday before Halloween and Tom and Chris had both taken two days off work to have a long weekend with their new son. Ethan was due to arrive at about 5pm and Tom had managed to work himself up into a bag of nerves quite nicely by early afternoon. It took Chris sitting with him cuddling on the couch for about an hour for him to calm down again. Finally there was a knock on the door and they got up to open it. There on the porch was their case worker and hiding behind her leg was Ethan! He hung back as their case worker entered, and had to be coaxed in. Tom dropped to his haunches to be on the same level as Ethan and introduced himself. Ethan smiled slowly and Tom grinned too, taking him by the hand Tom took him over to introduce him to Chris, following Tom’s example Chris also dropped to his haunches and was rewarded with a huge hug from Ethan, surprising all of them. Right then Tom and Chris knew everything would be fine.


End file.
